Coming Home
by Bane2888
Summary: Sasuke is in a spiral of grief after itachi's death. Naruto is returning home after 7 years in America. Can he help Sasuke? Is there anything left of there friendship? NAruto:POV (next chapter will be Sakura POV)/AU/SASUNARU/Yaoi/Rated M
1. Chapter 1

Naruto stood naked at his bedroom window, watching the first rays of sunlight slowly appear and begin to fight back the darkness. Glancing back at his phone, a large crack across the screen obscured his view but he could still make out the time. It was far too early to be getting up but Naruto couldn't sleep anymore. He was flying back to England today, too restless and nervous to return to his bed, even though it was beckoning him with it's warmth and comfort. Naruto needed to get up and do something. Staring around his room he looked for something to occupy himself. The room was surprisingly organised and tidy, especially to his standards, it was large and well lit with a large oak double bed and matching furniture. Naruto had spent most of the last few days packing and organising it. He was only taking clothes and a few essentials; like his laptop. Everything else was also sorted out and boxed up to keep it dust free. He was leaving a lot behind and was unsure what he would do with it if he decide to stay in England.  
Normally on Fridays, his time would be spent at work, then to the bar for a few drinks or back home with a couple of beers and his PS4 for company. This PS4, still pristine, had been packed into its original box. Naruto stared at it considering unpacking it, as it was several hours before he would have to leave and didn't wish for his own thoughts as company. Naruto wouldn't be taking it to England, it would be easier to buy a new one, since he had some money saved from his signing bonus for agreeing to relocate to the UK.

Naruto couldn't believe he was going back to England, his birthplace. It was hard to think of it as his home, as he hadn't lived there for nearly 7 years. Now at the age of 25, after living in a high rise apartment just outside of New York, he was going back home. Standing stark-naked, he stared out of the window over the New York skyline. _Man, was he going to miss this view_. It was idyllic. It reached out across the Hudson river, the calm waters stretching across to the city skyline. The view was stunning at any time of the day. This morning, the sun was just beginning to rise. It crept up from behind the buildings with a fierce orange colour and a soft yellow glow trailing below, It fought back the darkness above it, pushing it away. Naruto was grateful that he had risen early enough to witness it.

"The neighbours will complain" scoffed a voice from behind him, Naruto glanced down at himself; tanned, strong and muscular. Turning his head he replied "I don't think _complain_ is the right word, Sai". Sai, Naruto's roommate stood in the hall outside Naruto's room, gaving him a half smile he said, "maybe you will scare some poor old dear to death and they won't let you leave the country!?" Naruto laughed, a wonderful sound that filled the room. "HA! I'd be so lucky" Naruto replied without thinking, scooping up a pair of well worn navy blue sweat pants and putting them on. Sai raised an eyebrow, intrigued by Naruto's response, he asked, "You don't want to leave?" while he stepped into the room.

"Well you know it's complicated." Naruto replied as he raised a nervous hand to the back of his head.

"How so? - I thought you were excited for this job offer?"

"No it's not that and of course I'm excited, it's just with, ya know with… Sasuke and everything..." Even saying his name was difficult. Naruto swallowed awkwardly, watching Sai.

"Oh, of course." was all Sai responded with, raising his eyebrows, "Well I am sure you will figure it out. Anyway Naruto, I am going back to bed as I only got up to use the bathroom." Naruto nodded. He was sure that Sai was fed up talking about Sasuke, but couldn't figure out why.

Naruto grabbed a black towel that Sai had left for him, as all his were packed, and headed for the shower. He switched it on and waited a few moments for the water to heat up before getting in and closing the glass door behind him. Naruto let the warm water cascade down his body. He stood there, hands pressed on the tiles while he looked down watching the water slowly drain away.

Naruto was definitely excited about this new job offer, he had been working as a chef to several employers since he arrived in New York. It was only by luck that one evening at his current job, he went from washing dishes to helping the head chef; there had been a nasty bug going around and with several members of staff of ill, the restaurant was facing closing for a few days but the head chef had called in a favour with a fellow chef and had then recruited Naruto for food prep. It had been a crazy few days and Naruto always thrived under pressure. The hard work paid off, Naruto had clearly made a good impression with his head chef. He was moved permanently to food prep with his head chef praising his natural ability with food. Naruto was a natural with the preparation for fine dining and complex menus. Within a year, he was promoted to chef and was even able to give some creative input and ideas to the dishes on the menu. Naruto's head chef was blown away by his progress. He always marvelled at Naruto's sense of taste and how quickly he had taken to the job with no official training.

It was about 2 months ago that Naruto had been offered a job back in England for a new restaurant: The Snake and Fox. The owner and head chef was a man named Jiraiya. Naruto had only met him briefly, but with his head chef speaking so highly of him, and the added fact that he was born and bred British, was enough for Jiraiya to risk it and offer to fly him back to England for a 3 month trial. If he and Jiraiya were happy with his work then he could stay, or simply return to America if Naruto wished. Naruto loved it here in the 'States, but he had never planned to stay so long and did miss England and his old friends. It was one of these old friends that caused Naruto so much worry over the move. After he had already agreed to return to Englandm he had received a call from an old friend from school; Sakura. They kept in touch the whole time he had been out here, speaking at least once or twice a month through Skype. They usually chatted about work and the weather, however the last time Sakura had rang him, she had been distraught and in tears. She didn't often mention Sasuke to Naruto, Sakura of course had no idea what had happened between them and she had instinctively known not to ask, but this time it came out like a flood. Sasuke had lost his older brother, Itachi, in a car accident about 4 months ago. Naruto remembers feeling shock from hearing about this. He had wrangled for weeks about sending a card or even phoning Sasuke, but in the end he didn't. According to Sakura, Sasuke had been doing fine at the time of Itachi's death. He had grieved and been upset for while but he'd picked himself up and moved on with his life. However things soon changed. Through sobbing breaths, Sakura explained how Sasuke had _seemed _fine, but now he'd fallen into grieve and self loathing again. He was turning up for work late or not at all. Drinking and starting to smoke he was refusing to see anyone. Sakura had pleaded with Naruto to come home just to talk to him, she'd become rather hysterical on the phone and it took Naruto a long time to calm her down before he could talk to her. With barely hidden excitement, he told her he was coming home in two weeks and of course, the job offer. He hadn't mentioned anything earlier because he wanted to surprise her. Naruto rubbed his ear at the memory of Sakura almost screaming herself blue in the face for not telling her sooner, making her worry and putting her through this. But as quickly as her anger had appeared, it evaporated and she began talking excitedly about the prospect of him coming home. Sakura had even made Naruto swear on his green frog purse that he would talk some sense into Sasuke. The phone conversation finished with Sakura and Naruto in quite high spirits and it was only when she hung up that the unease settled in around Naruto like a clingy fog. He was going to have to face Sasuke some how. In the excitement, he hadn't really thought about what that kind of promise would entail. He had exposed his heart to that man 7 years ago, in every possible way, and he had never gotten it back. Naruto put his face in his hands while in the shower and ran them up through his wet hair. "Yeah right!" he said aloud to the shower, _talk some sense into Sasuke. _What the hell was he going to say? - Sasuke and Naruto hadn't spoke in years. Naruto had taken the opportunity to leave for America and they hadn't even exchanged goodbyes, it had been devastating. Naruto and Sasuke had been best of friends until that drunk night at the school graduations. Naruto felt awful just thinking about it, he shut of the shower quite suddenly and stepped out shaking the depressing thoughts from his felt the chill creep over him as he stepped out and quickly wrapped a towel around his waist and grabbed another for this blond hair. Naruto spent the next few hours trying to keep himself occupied, mostly by gaming on his PS4, but he was anxious and jittery, he couldn't settle into anything, he kept swapping games or browsing Youtube.

Around 10am, Sai got up to find Naruto aimlessly opening and closing cupboards in the kitchen.  
"Lost something Naruto?" Sai asked with a smirk.  
"Nahhhh" Naruto replied, without looking up. "I just don't know what to eat, feel kinda sick, ya know?"

"Just have some toast or something?"

"Yeah might do"

"Naruto?"

"Yeah?"

"So, are you nervous about the Job, or flying, or what?"

"No none of that." Naruto replied, stopping his hunt for food and looking up at Sai. "I think I'm worried about having to talk to Sasuke" That was a bit of an understatement for Naruto, talking to Sasuke was all that he had thought about for the last few days. How was he going to do it? How was Sasuke going to react? Would Sasuke even talk to him? Naruto was sure the engines of his plane could fail and he would still be worrying about talking to Sasuke. Although Naruto did wonder if he could maybe just get Sasuke really mad at him, that he might snap out of this emotional ravine, it always used to work when they were kids, after all. Then he wouldn't have to bridge the gap that Sasuke had made in their friendship, that Naruto only went and lengthened, by sticking the Atlantic ocean between them. Naruto threw his hands in the air and made a noise of frustration "Yes, I am definitely worried about to talking to Sasuke!"

"So don't"

"What?"

"Don't talk to Sasuke"

"What-No! I have to talk to him, I promised Sakura!" Naruto replied shaking his head.

Sai said nothing, simply shrugged and said, "you are oddly loyal sometimes Naruto. Its not like you owe her anything , you hardly speak."

"Hey!" Naruto interrupted "Sakura and I are good friends and we Skype at least once a month or every two months since I came out here."

"Yeah but…."

"What's your problem Sai?!" Naruto asked, beginning to shout. He wasn't sure why he was getting angry with Sai, but he also wasn't sure why he was having to defend his friendship with Sakura when his friendship with Sasuke was the problem... perhaps the stress was getting to him.

"I don't have a problem Naruto, I was simply asking" Sai replied with an air of sophisticated arrogance, "Obviously you can do what you want."

Naruto opened his mouth to speak although he wasn't sure it would be in protest or apology. However this time Sai cut him off.

"I take it you will be ready to leave for the airport in an hour? I'm going to have a shower" and with that, Sai spun on his heels and left the kitchen.

"Errr yeah" Naruto replied to the empty kitchen, he wasn't quite sure what had just happened.

Trying not to give Sai too much thought (not there was much room to do that) Naruto decided that he should eat something before he left, he cut up some slices from a cinnamon, raisin and walnut loaf and spread some Jam on it. Taking a messy bite he savoured the taste. Man, was he going to miss this bread, he supposed he could make it himself, but who had the time for that? The bread in question had come from the lovely elderly lady living above them. Naruto quite often carried her shopping up or changed a light bulb for her, simple jobs like that and she always loved to bake for him in return. The elderly neighbour had given him this loaf yesterday when he had popped in to say goodbye. He had mentioned to Sai about giving her a hand while he was in England, but he didn't expect Sai would. Sai had been a great housemate, but he wasn't up for any kind of helping hand or charity work. He worked as a well paid photographer and he had done some shots for Naruto's head chef, which is how they met. They started hanging out and one evening, had gone back to Naruto's place to finish off a few beers because it was closer to the bar. When Sai had seen that Naruto was living in an apartment that was practically a glorified hallway he suggested, no insisted that Naruto move in with him in his large, 3 bed apartment. Naruto had jumped at the chance. Sai's grandfather, who was some sort of important business man, had bought the apartment and allowed Sai to live there. Naruto had never actually met his Grandfather and Sai didn't really talk about him much, so Naruto had never asked about him. For the last few years, Naruto had lived quite happily with Sai. Sai was much tidier than Naruto but Naruto often cooked for the both of them, so they worked well. Sai was gay, like Naruto, however there had never been any real attraction between the two of them. Sai was usually seeing one guy or another, Naruto couldn't keep up and had once or twice insulted one of Sai's _guests _by getting them confused with someone else, but it was quite disconcerting finding a different naked guy in the apartment every other weekend.

It wasn't long before Naruto was standing outside the airport loading his luggage onto a trolley, he embraced Sai like a brother, and with mock seriousness he stared at Sai and said "I am going to miss you".

"Shut up idiot" Sai replied shoving him away "the only thing you will miss is me cleaning up after you."

Naruto grinned "Yeah, ya properly right!"

Sai rolled his eyes, shaking his head, "I'll see you around, Naruto" and with that, he headed straight for his car.

"BYE SAI!" Naruto yelled much more loudly than necessary. It was acknowledged with a single wave.

Naruto chuckling to himself headed into the busy airport, it was full of tourists, businessmen and family all heading their own way with their own goals in mind. Taking a deep breath, Naruto joined the masses and headed for check in, trying to feel ready to face his own goals.


	2. Chapter 2

The shrill buzz of Sakura's alarm rang out. Glaring at the blurry numbers, she could just make out "5:00am". With a reserved sigh she switched off the alarm, got out of bed and headed for the bathroom. No matter how many times she got up at 5am, it would always be too early for her. However tempting another 10 minutes in bed would be, Sakura was always quite image conscious and liked to have enough time to shower, dry her hair and apply makeup before she left. She hated leaving the house without having a shower and couldn't remember the last time she did. Sakura made a quick glance at her phone before stepping into the shower, checking for a text, but no luck. Naruto was leaving for England today and she was hoping he may have text her before he went to bed. She wasn't too worried that he hadn't. He was probably quite busy with the move and he was terribly forgetful at times. Sakura was both excited to see Naruto but also dreading it. She was terrified how Sasuke might react when he found that Naruto was home and that she had kept it from him. Sakura was sure he would be furious with her for asking Naruto to come home and for not mentioning it in the first place. Sakura wished she could just pretend that is was all a big shock to her as well, but unfortunately Naruto was about as tactful as a charging herd of rhino and would unintentionally drop her in it. She didn't want Sasuke to be more upset with her than he already was.

Sakura chewed her lip thinking it over in her head, she considered going along with Naruto to talk to Sasuke, then at the very least Sasuke wouldn't be able to treat her as badly as he did last time. However, she was sure Sasuke would feel outnumbered and ganged up on, he would probably become defensive and lash out, no doubt this would wind Naruto up. She had never known Naruto to back down from a fight. The last thing Sakura would need was for Sasuke and Naruto to start putting lumps on each other rather than the hugging and forgiving that Sakura had in mind. Finishing her shower, Sakura checked her phone again, more out of habit than any real belief that Naruto would have text her and was not surprised he hadn't. Despite her lack of concern she couldn't help feeling disappointed. Continuing with her morning routine, she had a quick breakfast of yogurt and muesli, brushed her teeth and began drying her hair and applied light makeup for work.

Sakura was still plagued with thoughts about Sasuke, she didn't know what to do about him. When Sakura had learnt of Itachi's death, she had been devastated. She'd gone to Sasuke, comforted him, held him and cried with him. He had been grateful for her support and allowed her to help with organising some of less important details of itachi's funeral, which was very unlike Sasuke "_control freak" _Uchiha, but it was a sign of how overwhelmed he must have been to release control to another. What Sakura couldn't understand was that after a couple of weeks off, Sasuke returned to work and he was still upset about losing his only brother. _Of course he was, _but he had accepted it and was graciously moving on. Then all of a sudden it was as if Sasuke hit a wall in recovery that utterly defeated him and he began to lose himself, seeking solace in drink and cigarettes. Sakura feared what else he had chosen to lessen his pain. Sasuke pushed not only Sakura but their other friends away, as well as risking his job by turning up continuously late or not at all. The last time Sakura saw him, he looked awful, he'd lost weight, looked exhausted and was dearly in need of a shower and a shave. At first Sasuke had avoided her, then resorted to down right ignoring her when she started turning up unannounced. After a handful of times turning up to find _no one in, _Sakura arrived and refused to leave Sasuke's door, banging on it and yelling through the letterbox until he let her in. It was only when she started yelling about breaking the door down to get in that she heard the locks click and saw the door swing open. Sakura fell a thrill of exhilaration at her success but it was almost instantly gone in a puff of smoke, like that being breathed into her face as Sasuke stepped out, baring over her, looking furious and reeking of cheap drink and cigarettes. Sakura recoiled in disgust and fear. Before she could say anything, Sasuke's hand reached out quickly grabbing her roughly by the fore-arm, he half marched, half dragged her down his hallway, all the while hissing in her ear "Sakura, if I wanted to fucking talk to you, don't you think I would have fucking let you in?" At the end of his hallway, he bashed the lift button, which slid open instantly and he forcefully shoved her away from him, causing her to stumble and fall. "Just leave me alone, Sakura!" he hissed at her with malice.

With that, he stalked back to his flat, never looking back. Sakura remained sitting in lift, shocked like a scorned child for several seconds before someone called it to the ground floor. Sakura pulled herself up and ran from the lift straight to her car. Driving all of half a mile before having to pull over because she could not control the salty tears that spilled from her eyes and the sobbing that shook her body.  
It had been that evening that she rang Naruto and begged him to come home, she omitted the details of Sasuke hurting her or pushing her over, she wasn't quite sure how Naruto would react, but she felt that no good could come of telling him.

Naruto had naturally been fantastic on the phone, he listened without interrupting, he and Sakura had spoken for a couple hours in total that night, it took Sakura a while to work up the courage to ask Naruto to come home. To her surprise he was ecstatic! Naruto instantly began telling her about his new job offer, how he would be flying home in 2 weeks and with all going well he would be staying in England. Naruto also explained in a hurried fashion (perhaps afraid of enraging her) that he'd been dying to tell her and their other friends but wanted to keep it a surprise. "Soooo, surprise!" he yelled happily on the phone. Sakura remained silent for a minute before a smile spread across her face, she felt like a weight was being lifted. Sakura and Naruto began talking excitedly about his return, she couldn't help grinning from ear to ear. Sakura was sure she could already feel Naruto's warmth and happiness oozing through the phone and surrounding her in an embrace. It was amazing that he could do that simply with his voice from several thousand miles away and it gave Sakura hope that he could bring his happiness and light to Sasuke to heal his wounds.  
Sakura stopped on her way out of the house, still, she had to tell Sasuke. Checking her makeup in the hallway mirror and wrapping a thick grey scarf around her neck, she gave herself a stern stare in her reflection and promised herself that she would see Sasuke today, on her lunch break. That way she could keep it brief and worst case scenario, she would just leave a note for him and hopefully he wouldn't throw her out again.

-

Sasuke sat alone in the cold laundry room in the basement level of his apartment, he watched the slow continuous spinning of his clothes in the machine, a mess of dark blacks and greys, although he had noticed a single red sock in the mix, occasionally making an appearance before merging into darkness again. Sasuke sat at the end of a long bench, his back to the door. A light grey hoody with it's hood pulled high obscured his face and only his hair, black as night, could be seen hanging from the opening in the hood.  
Sasuke glanced at the clock, his clothes would be finished soon. The cycle only took about 45 minutes. Sasuke spent the whole time down here in the laundry room, he liked it in here; clean, minimalistic and everything was in it's place. So very unlike his apartment at the moment. Sasuke who was normally a tyrant for organisation and cleanliness, was not able to keep up with maintaining his small one bed apartment in recent weeks. All of Itachi's stuff had been brought there to be stored and then sorted through, but it remained untouched, cluttering up his hallway and livingroom. The mess inadvertently caused Sasuke to lose interest in his usual high cleaning standards and his home was suffering for it. To most people, it wouldn't be seen as too bad but to Sasuke, it was downright disgusting and he hated it.

When the wash cycle came to an end, Sasuke pulled his clothes out and threw them haphazardly into the dryer, he usually liked to air dry his clothes on the small balcony but light rain that started this morning had turned into a constant downpour. Once the dryer was loaded, Sasuke was going to return to his perch to continue waiting but a bang of the door swinging open announced the arrival of two middle aged ladies from the floor below him, they moved into the room paying him no heed and chatting about some show they saw last night. Sasuke didn't care to listen and was out the door before it even had a chance to shut. He made his way down the short hallway and into the lift, jabbing the button that said "3rd".

The lift dinged gently as it reached the correct floor, metallic doors slid open gracefully revealing a long hallway with hard wearing blue carpet and magnolia walls. Sasuke only took one step out of the lift before the door to his left swung in and to his surprise Sakura stepped out. The feeling of surprise was quickly followed by guilt and shame after their last encounter. He'dbeen certain that she would never forgive him, but here she was stood in his hallway, a light green nurse's uniform on and navy blue coat, damp with the rain, thrown over her arm. Sakura started towards his door, causing Sasuke to clear his throat to get her attention. Sakura visibly jumped spinning around to look at him.

"Sasuke..." she said hesitantly. It made him cringe inwardly, he could hear the fear in her careful voice. Sasuke waited patiently for her to speak again, he glanced up towards his flat door, desperate to be there,to shut himself away from it all, with his music and books. However he waited, feeling that he owed it to her, as his gaze swung back to her, their eyes met for the briefest moment, before she looked down, twisting her fingers nervously in front of him.

"Um, Sasuke..." she started again. "I'm sorry Sasuke, really sorry." she said with genuine earnest.

_She was sorry? _Sasuke thought to himself.

"There is something I haven't told you.", she continued.

Despite Sasuke's general disinterest, Sakura caught his attention now, however it showed as nothing more than a raised eyebrow.

Sakura met his eyes again, holding his gaze this time. Sasuke could see the fear in them, hidden behind her determination. _Had I really scared her that much? _He wonder.

Sakura took a deep breath, "I spoke to Naruto a couple of week's ago and he is flying back to England, umm today." She said this all very quickly, like ripping a plaster quickly to reduce the pain. She flashed him a pained smile before returning her gaze to her feet.

For the longest moment Sasuke said nothing, his mind had gone blank. He waited for it to pull itself together and deliver it's response, he simply stared at the top of Sakura head. Sasuke didn't know what to say, was he happy? Did he care? Sasuke did feel a small bubble of nervous excitement and hope begin to form. Sasuke was surprised to find that a tiny part of him was excited at the prospect of seeing Naruto and perhaps the thought of trying to right some of the wrong that he'd caused, if Naruto would listen, of course. Then Sasuke was hit with a wave of fear, what if Naruto still hated him or wouldn't forgive him. Sasuke felt panicked and claustrophobic, he was sure it was harder to breathe.

So distracted, he completely forgot that Sakura was waiting for a reply and turned and began walking quickly towards his apartment desperate for what little sanctuary his home could bring him.

"Sasuke!" Sakura called taking a step after him, but then thinking better of it, remaining where she was. "Are you ok?"

"Yes, fine." he replied without looking back still continuing towards his door.

"Ill see you around, Sakura."

With that, he walked into his apartment, slamming the door and heading straight for his small balcony that overlooked the park behind his apartment. He tightly gripped the old railing, his knuckles turning white from the pressure. Sasuke took deep breaths, trying to calm himself, _Naruto was coming back? _He found it difficult to comprehend, this wash of sudden emotion surprised him, he felt so numb for a while now, even before Itachi deaths, but the news of Naruto's return was cracking his cold interior. Sasuke felt his irrational panic raising, which he struggled to suppress it was like holding back a flowing river with sheer willpower. Sasuke, still holding the railing, tried his best to clear his mind telling himself that he wouldn't see Naruto anyway even know part of him desperately wanted to. He didn't know where Naruto was staying or how long for, _heck Sakura could be lying just to get to him. _However a small voice told Sasuke that Sakura would never lie about this.

With all this swimming through his head, Sasuke walked back into his room, he felt light headed. Flopping onto his bed, he rolled on his side and searched through a couple of empty packets of cigarettes, shaking them and throwing them away from himself until he found a half-full pack. Sliding one out with his lips and digging a lighter out of his pocket, it took a couple of attempts to light it, the lighter was Itachi's and was well worn. Sasuke took several deep draws on the cigarette, he felt the smoke seep into his veins, calming his nerves like sand onto fire.

For a while he lay there, simply smoking and staring at the ceiling. Smoking helped him regain control, he felt his earlier panic subsiding. After the first cigarette was finished he lit another, then another. He didn't usually smoke like this, but he kept smoking until his earlier panic had subsided and his hands were steady.

Once Sasuke calmed down and convinced himself that Naruto was probably only here for a couple of weeks on holiday before going back to America and that Sasuke wasn't going to see him anyway.

He rolled onto his side and carefully placed the cigarette in an ashtray and began hunting under his bed without getting off of it, he lay on his stomach, head hanging over the side. His head began to ache from the rush of blood, but he ignored it. Instead continuing his search until he found what he was looking for. A dusty, large, leather bound photo album. He pulled it out and sat back up on the bed with it across his lap. He opened it, flicking through the pages until near the end, where he found the photos he was looking for. On one side there was a large school photo of about 300 students all dressed in grey, smiling politely at the camera, Sasuke could easily pick Naruto out with his messy golden hair, standing between himself and another student, but Sasuke couldn't remember their name. However, the photo that really caught Sasuke's attention was on the other page, It consisted of Naruto alone, blazer discarded behind him, throwing a peace sign and grinning from ear to ear, Naruto's blue eyes simply beamed up at him from the photo. Sasuke felt calm and safe looking at the photo, he could stare at this face, meet those eyes with his own and could only see naive happiness. Sasuke felt no fear that when he looked at this photo of Naruto, he wouldn't see the hurt and betrayal he had caused. Sasuke didn't have to remember Naruto's faltering smile, his defeated slump and then the anger and yelling before Naruto left. When Sasuke looked at the photo he could remember Naruto being whole and happy, remembering him before their friendship was broken by one foolishly drunken night.  
Sasuke spent the rest of the evening slowly browsing the other photos from his school days, trying to pull the simplicity, happiness and warmth off of their pages and into his life. It was dark before he remembered to fetch his washing.


End file.
